Neither dry nor streaming
by Spades And Swords
Summary: Four times, Salazar Slytherin asked Helga Hufflepuff a question. Four times, she answered, changing their fates forever.
1. A mistaken proposal

Salazar wasn't known for being a patient man, and every second he spent in that small, messy kitchen overcrowded with house-elves felt like a trial Helga was deliberately making him go through.

"Curse you, Hufflepuff." He said under his breath. The ears of a nearby elf flickered, and the little creature was soon by his side, showering him with questions of how he could be of help.

Salazar glared at it without bothering to hide the disgust it caused him. "Don't you have some greasy pots to scrub? Get away from me, you little pest."

"I was merely asking, young master." The elf bowed his head, but his courteous manners couldn't conceal the impertinent tone of his voice. He turned his back on Salazar and went back to his fellow elves. "Now I see why Lady Helga is always comparing Lord Salazar to a burnt lemon pie. Sour on the outside, bitter on the inside. "

"I heard that!" Salazar got up from his chair so forcefully that it fell to the floor with a heavy slam. He took out his wand from the pocket of his robe and pointed it at the insolent elf as it shrieked and tried to hide behind his friends. The rest of the elves stopped working on their cooking duties and stared in fear at the angry wizard. "I'll teach you a lesson about how to treat your superiors, you impudent—"

"Really, Salazar? That's not the correct way to act in your friend's house, is it?" Helga's voice served as a prelude for her sudden apparition. She materialized between Salazar and the terrified elf, who clung to her gown as soon as her hefty figure became completely material. "Especially when you haven't visited said friend in ages. Look at you, bullying an elf that was just showing you some kindness! You should be ashamed of yourself. Don't worry, little one. Salazar isn't going to hurt you."

Helga said tenderly as she patted the elf's head. He slowly looked up to his dear lady, but his glistening eyes filled with love turned into a resentful glare the second they became fixed on Salazar.

Salazar felt a twinge of anger burning inside his chest. He hoped Helga would scold the elf for even daring to look at him that way.

He should have known that was a vain hope.

Instead, Helga made use of a few sweet and caring words to convince the elf to go back to his work and to forgive young master Salazar, who had a very strange sense of humor that sometimes passed as an overly pretentious and rude attitude.

"No wonder these creatures are so nervy." Salazar said, reluctantly accepting to let the elf go unpunished and putting his wand back into the pocket of his robe. "With a master like you, I guess they know no better, Helga."

"Ah, there it is. A taste of Salazar Slytherin's acidic wit!" Helga laughed heartily. Salazar allowed himself to smile too, but only after Helga's face was resting on his shoulder after she trapped him in one of her characteristic tight embraces. "I've missed it, but not as much as I've missed you. What have you been up to, you fool? Have you been talking to a lot of snakes lately? That would explain why every word you say comes with a generous dose of venom."

"And to think I was actually getting a bit sentimental about our reunion." Salazar said as he rolled his eyes. Slowly, Helga undraped her arms from his neck. "You've always had a knack for ruining the moment, Hufflepuff."

Helga smirked. "And you've always been very sensitive for a man who pretends to be so stoic. That's why I've always said you're like a baked potato."

"Is that so?" Salazar arched an eyebrow and folded his arms. "That's interesting, because before you interrupted us with your presence, your little elves were just telling me about how much you like to compare me to a much less flattering dish. Something about a burnt lemon pie, if I recall correctly?"

"Did they tell you about it?" Helga's said as her smile vanished and her cheeks became crimson.

"You didn't even try to deny it!" Said Salazar in shock.

He had no time to express his offense. In the blink of an eye, Helga turned her back on him and faced the domestic elves. "Did you all forget about our kitchen's golden rule? What is said in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen!"

"Well, the washing sink is not always considered a part of the kitchen, so..." said the same elf that Salazar had been about to attack.

"Oh you. Always with the convenient excuses!" Helga stomped her foot in annoyance, making the elves laugh at her own expense. It was a good-natured, amiable sound that Salazar didn't know was able to come from those lowly creatures' throats.

Though he found it less than acceptable, he allowed the moment between Helga and her elves to pass peacefully without his intervention.

"Well, since you've all become so apt in the sophisticated art of gossip, I think it would be best if Salazar and I continue our conversation elsewhere. Please, prepare some refreshments for the both of us, and make sure to follow the recipes I gave you to make them extra nutritious. Salazar obviously needs it." Helga snapped her fingers so quickly that it was hard to distinguished when one snap ended and the other started. "Come now, hurry up! No slacking in my kitchen! That goes for everyone; especially you up there!"

"I'm not slacking, I'm just making wise use of my energy." Said the domestic elf resting between two cauldrons on a high shelf.

"Of course you are." Helga said as she accepted the arm Salazar offered her. "I haven't heard that excuse before."

Salazar wasn't sad to leave the chaos of the kitchen behind. Once outside, he allowed Helga to guide him through the narrow hallways of her home.

More than a house, it felt like a cave with multiple tunnels. Sure, it was a cozy and welcoming, but that didn't make it a worthy home for a witch as powerful as Helga.

Why she insisted in living that way was a mystery he knew he would never be able to solve.

"...you know?"

"What?"

"I was just explaining why it is rude to not listen to your friend while she is talking to you." Helga said seriously.

"Oh." Salazar looked at her with a respectful, almost solemn expression adorning his face. "Forgive me."

Helga retrieved her hand from his arm and opened the rustic, round wooden door of her room. She chuckled softly, and when she spoke again, her voice had an amused and sweet undertone. "Relax, it was a joke. You're still such a stick in the mud, Salazar."

"Or maybe you're just childish, Helga." Salazar said as he went inside the room after her. "Still, it's part of your charm. Your unorthodox, awkward charm."

"For a moment there, I was flattered." Helga took off the dirty cape hanging from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. "This place is a mess. Give me a moment."

"There's no need..." Salazar said, but Helga was already using her want to tidy up her room as much as possible.

He sighed in resignation. He picked up her cape and put it on a small table together with his own.

He inspected the surface covered with Helga's herbology and medical notes and picked up one of the many pages scattered all over.

**_Sick muggles and how to cure them without being lynched by a superstitious mob in the process (tentative title, might change later)_**

**_A book by Helga Hufflepuff._**

Salazar frowned, and for a moment, he wondered if having come to see her had been a good idea in the first place. He looked over his shoulder and stared at Helga.

She worked hard to make him feel more comfortable in her home, even when he had technically invited himself in without any previous announcement.

He had terrorized her domestic elf, and rather than kicking him out from her home, she had shrugged the matter off as if it had been a joke.

He hadn't contacted her in years, and yet, she had hugged him without any restraint, with the same warmness she had showed to him in the past, in the times were they spent almost every day together.

Helga Hufflepuff.

Time had not embittered her heart as it had done with his own.

If anything, the passing years only seemed to have made it sweeter and more understanding.

_An admirable woman. _

Salazar thought. He looked at the sheet of paper in his hand. His fingers crumbled it into a ball before dropping it uncaringly on top of the desk.

_Her talents have been long wasted in these banal tasks. Her tender heart misguides her actions...but I'm here to change that. I can give you a purpose worthy of your abilities, my dear Helga. A witch like you deserves nothing less._

With stern, confident steps, Salazar walked toward Helga as if he was a knight approaching his coveted damsel. Helga's smile wavered when he gently but firmly grabbed her wrist and brought her hand holding her wand down.

Her magic disrupted and her focus broken, Helga heard how a pile of books she was moving out of the way fell like drops of water next to her. She opened her mouth, but no word left her lips.

Salazar's emerald eyes had gained a few wrinkles around their corners, but they had lost none of their mesmerizing energy. She had lost herself in them many times in the past, and this time felt no different, not even if it had been years since she had last done so.

"There's no need for all this, Helga. My visit here has just one purpose." Salazar covered her hand with his. "I've come to see you just to ask you a question. And if your answer is a yes, then we can leave this place together at once. Our fates rest on your shoulders, my dear Helga."

"Salazar..." Helga muttered in disbelief. "You can't...how dare you?"

"Excuse me?" Salazar arched an eyebrow as Helga slid her hand away from his fingers. Before he could say something else, she pressed the tip of her wand under his chin.

Salazar raised his hands up and wondered what he had done to cause his friend any offense.

_My long absence upset her much more than I thought. Curses, I knew I should have brought her a gift!_

"No, I don't excuse you." Helga stated as she frowned. "How can you do this? You disappear out of nowhere, you don't even bother to contact me or even send me a letter from time to time...I was worried something had happened to you! Muggles are growing more aggressive each day. I thought you had been—"

"You have a very lowly opinion of me if you think those useless creatures could ever harm me, Helga." Salazar sneered, slight dropping his arms, but putting them up right back up when Helga tightened her grip on her wand. "Would you please point that thing elsewhere? I don't want to die by one of your accidental but very lethal spells! It wouldn't be a very fitting end for a man like me."

"On the contrary, it would be a fitting end for a fool like you, Salazar Slytherin!" Helga exclaimed. "You deserve nothing less after asking me to marry you in such a cold and rushed manner. I always pictured this moment as the most romantic of my life...and you soiled that dream! I will never forgive you for this, not even if my answer is a yes!"

It was seldom that Salazar was left speechless. Only his mother and a rather cunning cobra he had met in his travels had succeeded in leaving him with his mouth agape like a simple fool.

Helga had now joined the club, and she was by far the most effective member.

"I don't...I mean..." Salazar cleared his throat and closed his eyes for a moment. "That's not what I've come to ask you, Helga. My business here has little to do with the marital aspects of life."

_That sounded better in my imagination. Maybe I have been spending too much time talking to snakes after all..._

"Oh." Helga put down her wand. "Of course. I was just jesting, and you fell for it. If only you could have looked at your face...priceless."

She laughed awkwardly, and then turned her back on Salazar. She gave out a long sigh as she covered her face with her hands. Salazar, no less flustered, tried to act as if he couldn't hear Helga's self-directed insults and stood still with his hands behind his back as he waited for her to calm down.

"If only I could go back in time and avoid this conversation from ever taking place..." Salazar whispered, glad that his blood was finally abandoning his red face.

"I'm fine now." Helga turned around. Her attitude was so radiant that it almost made Salazar believe the misunderstanding had never happened. "Let us never talk about this again."

"You stole the words from my mouth."

"I'm glad we agree. So, moving on...what is this question that you want to ask me so badly? I hope you aren't looking for my famous cooking recipes, Salazar. You know I'm as protective of them as you are of your many secret hideouts you have around the world, none of which I know the location of. Not at all."

"A wizarding school, Helga." Salazar put his hands on her shoulders. "The best the world has ever seen. A sanctuary for mages, a place were we all can hone our skills and unleash our true potential. A place safe from the ignorance of the muggles and free from their prejudices! A place that needn't be just a dream or an illusion. We can make it happen...you can help us make it happen."

"Us? Who are the others?" Helga asked Salazar with a bewildered expression in her eyes. Before she asked anything else, Salazar took her hand again.

His grip was more forceful this time, like the anticipated handshake from an eager merchant desperate to close a deal.

"That doesn't matter now. I'll tell you all about them later. All that I care about at this moment is your answer, dear Helga. Will you join me? I can think of no one else I'd rather have by my side during this task. Your loyalty, your patience, your perseverance, your hard work...they would be a great asset to our cause. What do you say? The answer is up to you, my friend."

Helga allowed his words to sink inside her mind. Her tongue struggled to craft an answer, and for a long moment, she remained quiet as Salazar caressed the calloused and scarred back of her hand with his soft fingers.

Neither noticed the intruding house elf that entered the room without knocking. It was the same elf that had been a victim of Salazar's temper.

He gasped and abandoned the room so quickly that the silver tray full with pastries and two big cups of tea almost slipped from his hands. Silently closing the door behind his back, he leaned against it, feeling how his skinny legs lost all their strength.

"There's no doubt about it. This one knows what he saw..." His big eyes widened to the point where they looked as if hey would drop from their orbits. "Master Salazar has just asked Lady's Helga's hand in marriage. Doom is nigh...Doom is nigh!"

He ran back to kitchen, screaming without any restraints and bringing chaos among his fellow elves with his bad news.

_I hate those creatures_. Salazar thought as he continued to wait for Helga's response. _If you weren't so fond of them, I'd kill them all, Helga. Believe me, I would._

* * *

**_My first Harry Potter fic. I didn't expect it to be about the Founders, but inspiration works in mysterious ways haha. I Anyway, thanks for reading!_**


	2. What will never change

_**Thanks for reading and to Snitchseeker07 for the review!**_

* * *

The sky was covered with grey clouds that kept the sunrays at bay.

For Salazar, that made it the perfect day for a walk along the castle's lake. He would have preferred his own company, but Helga had joined him when she caught a glance of him as he passed by the castle's entrance.

She had been carrying a basket full of fruits and vegetables that were supposed to be delivered to her elves working in the kitchen. When she approached him, Salazar insisted that she should complete her task first; otherwise, dinner could be delayed.

Helga dismissed his concerns and claimed that it wouldn't hurt anyone if she took a couple of minutes off. With that, Salazar's only hope of being alone vanished, and he had no choice but to accept Helga's company. He offered to carry the basket, but she declined his help.

They walked in silence for a long while. Helga occasionally looked at him from the corner of her eye but made no attempt to initiate a conversation.

Salazar felt great gratitude toward her for it, even if he didn't express it out loud.

Eventually, they reached the school's lake. Salazar stared at it without saying a word, allowing his mind to find some peace in the water's stillness.

"I knew you'd pick a snake as the symbol of your house, Salazar." Helga said casually as she put the basket down. She knelt for a moment to pick up a handful of pebbles and offered some to Salazar, but he politely refused with a gesture of his hand. "They are misunderstood creatures with a misplaced bad reputation, but I'm sure your students will give them a good name in no time."

"Godric disagrees." Salazar felt how the words left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

"Doesn't he always?" Helga said with a humorless chuckle as she threw a pebble toward the water. It pounced thrice on the surface before sinking into the lake.

"I'm getting sick of his lofty attitude." Salazar clenched his jaw. "I'm also beginning to think it's personal. No matter what I say or what I do, he seems to be against it. He even contradicted me when I suggested a diet richer in vegetables for the students! I swear, he was so against the idea that I thought that he would start a civil war about it."

"That one might be on me." Helga sighed. "I was the one that came up with the menu, after all."

"No, this has nothing to do with you." Salazar said as softly as his stern voice allowed. "He just does it to spite me, Helga. Our differences are too great for us to get along."

"Since when that's been an obstacle for a friendship to blossom?" Helga gave him a small nudge in the arm with her elbow. "Look at us. We couldn't be more different, but we are friends, aren't we?"

Salazar looked at her. Her hazel eyes were filled with concern. Salazar could see it, no matter how hard she tried to hide it behind her humorous façade.

He felt his heart soften.

_Helga, if only you knew the power you have over me. _

"Of course we are." Salazar said with a subtle smile, getting his face closer to hers. "That will never change."

Helga looked away and gave him a playful push with her hands.

Salazar laughed as he took a couple of steps back before recovering his balance. "I did nothing to deserve that."

"Yes, you did." Helga said with feign pride. "You made me blush. You have no sense of personal space when you talk, Salazar."

"Only when it's with you."

"You stop that now, Salazar Slytherin!"

"My name sounds so sweet when it comes from your lips." Salazar approached Helga with careful, calculated steps. "I hope you can say the same when yours comes from mine, Helga Hufflepuff."

Their faces were only a few inches apart. Salazar watched how Helga closed her eyes and prepared her lips to welcome his.

_My heart belongs to you. That's why you must never have it, no matter how much I wish you did. _

He smirked almost with sadness before picking up the basket overstuffed with fruits and vegetables. "Come, let's take this to the kitchen. I don't want your disrespectful elves to make a scene because of their missing ingredients."

Salazar started walking toward the castle. He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing when he looked over his shoulder and discovered that Helga's dreamily face had transformed into a scowl.

"Do you plan to ever do something out of all this teasing and flirting, Slytherin? Or do you just enjoy playing with my heart?" Helga said with her hands firmly resting on her hips.

"If I gave you an answer, then all the magic would be gone from our relationship."

"You have no shame." Helga said as she caught up to him.

"I never stated otherwise."

They laughed, and spent the rest of their journey back to the castle in silence. Nothing had really changed during their brief absence, but Salazar felt the sweet relief of having casted aside a big burden from his shoulders.

It was all thanks to Helga.

A conversation with her, no matter how small or trivial, always soothed his soul. Her presence alone was enough to make him feel calmer and more focused. It had always been that way between them.

_Your influence over me scares me. _

Salazar thought as they were getting close to the kitchen. The clanking and sizzling sounds that came from inside it made Helga smile.

_The most trivial and simple things have always been enough to make you happy, Helga. It can never be the same with me._

"Salazar." Helga stopped walking. Salazar did the same. "We are friends. You can tell me what really happened."

Salazar felt a hole in his stomach.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You aren't angry at Godric because he disapproved of your decision of making the snake the symbol of your house. There's more to it than this, isn't it?"

Salazar had always been proud of his ability to conceal his emotions. It wasn't for nothing that many wondered if he even had a soul from which a ghost could be born once he died.

And yet, Helga had seen right through him, like she always did.

When Salazar thought about it, he realized she had been quieter than usual for a reason.

It wasn't that her tongue had run out of things to say, she just been waiting for him to tell her the truth.

"Nothing is ever lost to you, Helga. You're very cunning for someone so kind, I even dare to say that later is a mask to hide the former."

"Tell me what happened." Helga insisted without paying attention to Salazar's insinuations.

Salazar's smile disappeared. If it had been anyone else, he would have replied to that sort of bluntness with a direct spell.

_But it's you, Helga. I am yours, and it scares me...it scares me more than you can imagine. More than anyone can ever know._

Swallowing his pride, Salazar confessed the truth to Helga. Somewhere during their conversation, Salazar put down the basket again, leaving no obstacle between him and Helga.

She came closer to him, as charmed by his voice as he was by her eyes.

"No muggle-born wizards?" Helga repeated in disbelief.

"Not even one." Salazar stated in a whisper. "Not in my house. I will never admit it."

"I see." Helga said. She looked away for a moment, and Salazar stared at her in silence. "I understand why Godric would disapprove. I assume Rowena would do the same if she knew."

"What about you?" Salazar held her face with his cold hands and made her look directly at him. "Do you disapprove of this too, Helga? Would you hate me for it? Would you try to convince me to change my ways?"

_Because for you, I would. _

Salazar loosened his grip on her face and caressed her cheeks.

_I may be mad, I may be weak...but I'm only a man, and you have charmed my heart. And even if I hate myself for it, right now I'd do as you said. That's the power you have over me, Helga. Not even the power of the Imperio curse could compare, my love._

Helga closed the small gap between them.

Her breasts pressed against his chest just a second before her lips did the same with his.

They kissed with no one as their witness.

"I disapprove of it, Salazar." Helga said right after breaking the kiss, their lips still brushing together as she spoke. "But I could never hate you for it, nor would I ever want you to change. I love you as you are. I accept you whole, no matter how different we are. That is something that will never change."

"Not even if the rest disagree?" Salazar said as he embraced Helga. She rested her whole weight against him, making him lean against the wall. "Not even if I'm hated for it? Would you still love me then, Helga?"

"Always." Helga said. Salazar felt her hand move against his back, followed by the creaking noise of a door opening behind them.

Salazar found himself lying on the floor of a room he had never seen before.

"The Room of Requirements." Helga explained as she laid on top of him. "My own addition to our castle...our school. It shows up only when someone is in great need."

"You never stop surprising me, Helga." Salazar smiled, proud of himself for having fallen in love with a witch of her caliber. "Do Godric and Rowena know?"

"No. This will be our little secret, Salazar. Do you promise me that you'll never tell them?" She kissed him again. "Do you promise me that you love me?"

"Always, my love." Salazar answered, tangling his fingers with hers.

During the whole act, Helga took the lead, and Salazar allowed it.

_'__Always' is such a strong word, Helga. I have never taken it seriously, and I don't think that will ever change. _

Salazar thought as he allowed his body to give into his impulses as Helga did the same with her own.

_But for now, I'll pretend I do. Maybe, I'm not pretending at all. Right now, I love you and I'm yours, no matter what tomorrow holds._

The door on the wall disappeared just in time to evade the curious eyes of an elf who left the kitchen to go find Lady Helga and the missing ingredients.

His quest was cut short when he found the basket just around the corner, but of his beloved Lady he found no trace.

Helga and Salazar wouldn't be seen again for the rest of the day. Their absence sparked the curiosity of Godric and Rowena, who casually commented on it as they both had dinner on the Great Hall.

The same that would soon be crowded with students.

Muggle-born, halfblood and pure blood alike.


	3. Our only witnesses

_**Hello! Thank you so much for reading and for the reviews and favorites! This chapter will be a bitsadder than the others, but I still hope you like it. Only one more chapter left!...I swear it won't take as long as this one did haha.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

"Salazar."

The sound of his name reached him like a stab in the back. His feet remained stiffly frozen on top the scattered dry leaves that covered the forest's ground.

He closed his eyes and breathed what little air remained inside his lungs. The steady beating of his heart quickened with every step Helga took toward him.

Leaves made a crunchy echo underneath her weight.

After what felt like an eternity, she stopped. A silence colder than the autumn wind blowing through the trees lingered between them.

"Helga." Salazar said without turning around. His voice was emotionless and soft. "You shouldn't have come after me."

_Though I knew you would._

"Why, Salazar?" Helga spoke with unconcealed grief.

Unlike Salazar, the emotions brewing inside her tainted her voice; and yet, there was an edge to her words that Salazar had never heard before. Slowly, he reached for the wand cleverly hidden under the sleeve of his robe.

"Why did you do it?" Helga insisted in a whisper.

Salazar's fingers closed around the wand's silver handling, but he couldn't muster the strength necessary to wield it against Helga.

_ Why did you come after me? _

Salazar gnashed his teeth. He didn't know what he hated most.

The weakness that Helga still incited inside him, or her stubborn iron will that had driven her to follow him.

_You truly are a fool, Hufflepuff._

"Get out of here, Helga." Salazar's words were not a friendly suggestion, but a murderous threat. "Whatever you do, don't follow me again. This is your first and final warning."

_Please._

"Or what? What would you do then, Salazar?" Helga said with a furious sneer. "Would you kill me?"

Against his best judgement, Salazar looked over his shoulder and looked directly into Helga's gaze.

He had seen many horrible things in his life.

The burning and gruesome demise at the pyre of hundreds of wizards and witches.

The death of his mother at the hands of the same muggle she had tried to heal.

The decay of Hogwarts after muggle-borns had infested its walls with their superior numbers.

The death of dozens of his followers during his civil war against Godric.

All of them were branded forever in his memories like scars that refused to heal. Horrible as they were, none was as difficult to bear as the hateful, glistening look on Helga's eyes.

"Would you kill me..." Helga repeated as she aimed her wand at Salazar "...just like you killed my elves?"

"They left me no choice, Helga." Salazar turned around once and for all. He stood tall, his green cape draping over his broad shoulders as it waved against the wind. Without hesitating, he pointed his wand at Helga, directly aiming to her heart. "They brought it upon themselves, and so will you if you don't disappear from here this instant."

_I will do it, Helga. So please, I beg you...get out of here. Please, my love._

Helga's mournful expression, instead of giving her the appearance of vulnerable woman with a broken heart, it made her look like a vengeful witch lusting for blood.

"_Bombarda Maxima_!"

Salazar's compassion for Helga vanished and was replaced by the urgent instinct to protect his life. He barely had time to cast a _Protego_ spell before Helga's magic reached him.

The impact of Helga's spell was so powerful that Salazar thought it would pierce right through his magical barriers and blow his body into pieces. He could hear his arm creaking like a twig, followed by a stinging pain that traveled from his elbow to his shoulder.

Salazar clenched his jaw and swallowed a scream.

Rather than distracting him, the pain helped him focus. It was a reminder that the woman before him was no longer his beloved friend.

She was an enemy, and she should perish as such.

She had to, and she would.

_So be it. If you won't hesitate, Helga..._

"Then neither will I." Salazar said under his breath as burnt leaves and scorching soil rained around him. "_Confringo!"_

Helga dodged the spell nimbly but didn't escape from it unscratched. She let out an agonizing cry as her left arm became engulfed by crimson flames that ate away the silk of her dress together with some of her skin.

The smell of burning meat created a hole in Salazar's stomach as soon as it infiltrated his nostrils.

_This isn't happening._

The thought perished almost as soon as it had manifested, and before a second had passed, Salazar found himself casting a new spell toward the injured Helga. His reflexes and instincts guided him; his mind and heart laid forgotten and lost deep inside him.

Salazar would have to make sure they remained that way, because if either resurfaced, then victory would be lost to him. If he dared to stop and think, his resolve would shatter like the thin surface of a frozen lake.

He wouldn't allow that to happen, not even if it meant sacrificing what he loved most. Defeat was a luxury he couldn't allow himself, not when there was still so much left for him to do. Salazar had left Hogwarts behind forever that morning.

The wizarding school and the other founders would no longer be a part of his life, but he still had unfinished business to conclude.

He still had a purpose and a reason to live.

He wouldn't allow Helga to take the rest of his life away from him, not even if that meant...

_Damn you, this is your fault, Helga! You shouldn't have followed me! You brought this upon yourself! You left me no choice, just like your godforsaken elves! _

"Forgive me." Salazar said as he pointed his wand at an injured Helga. She hugged her arm against her chest, her eyes fixed on Salazar like a pair of daggers she wished to dig deep inside his heart. "I wish you hadn't come after me, but I understand why you did it. You hate me for everything I've caused, for the man I have become. I wanted you to live your own life and be happy, but it seems you have chosen a different fate, my dear Helga. Forgive me, but in the end, you have only yourself to blame."

Salazar readied his aim. His lips cracked open.

_Avada Kedavra._

His wand remained unresponsive in his hand. From his mouth, no words came.

_I can't believe it. Even after so long, your power over me has not waned at all, Helga. Regardless of how different we are, of how hard I tried to convince myself that my feelings for you were simply an exaggerated desire of my body, of how cold I became towards you as the years passed, of how I pushed you away..._

Salazar's arm trembled. Before he had time to express the thoughts inside him, an unpronounced spell hit him directly in the chest.

His body became rigid as if made of rock. Salazar fell, his back crashed against the crisping ground. Small embers flew into the air after the impact.

Salazar tried to move, but his muscles would not answer to his commands. Only his eyes had been spared of the total paralysis that punished his body.

_So, you are capable of casting silent spells, Helga. I should have expected it. After all, you have always been marvelously talented. Then again, so have I. Finite Incantatem._

Salazar waited, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Helga walked toward him with calculated and slow steps, the same way a hunter approaches his freshly caught prey.

_Finite Incatatem._

Again, there was no reaction.

Salazar blew air from his nose in frustration. _Petificus Totalus _was a spell of decent power, but he had never imagined it could have been casted to the point where it became unbreakable and impossible to dispel.

_This is wrong. Helga is strong, but she pales when compared to me! She has never defeated me in a duel before! And with Petrificus Totalus...what sort of fool allows a low rank spell to be his end? No, no! I will not allow this! Salazar Slytherin will not meet such a pathetic fate!_

"I know what you are doing, Salazar. Stop trying, you won't be able to break this spell." Helga said. Slowly, she knelt on top of him, each of her legs pressing Salazar's sides relentlessly until her knees were dug deep into his ribs.

Salazar glared at her. The pity, the regret, the pain he had felt for injuring her and almost successfully killing her, all of it disappeared at the sight of Helga's mournful face as she laid on top of him.

Her burnt hand caressed his cheek. The uneven touch of her damaged skin sent shivers down Salazar's spine while also leaving behind faint traces of blood.

It was difficult to believe he had once found pleasure in her touch. Now, the only feelings it caused him were of disgust and hatred.

"It is not _Petrificus Totalus_." Helga smiled. Sadness deformed her expression. "It is not a spell at all. No, Salazar...what afflicts you right now is a curse. A curse of the same ilk of the one you tried to cast at me. You left me no choice, you murderous fool."

Salazar couldn't believe her words.

It couldn't be real.

Could Helga, the woman who treated domestic elves and muggle-borns as equals, the woman who foolishly risked her life to save muggles, the woman who had been always by his side even after Rowena and Godric had deserted him because of his extreme ideals...could someone like her really have accomplished what he still couldn't?

What probably no wizard in history had been capable of?

Had Helga Hufflepuff really casted one of the three unforgivable curses without pronouncing it?

"_Imperio_ is the worst curse of all. As monstrous as taking a life is, and as perverse it is to inflict pain on someone else...there's a special kind of wickedness in taking someone else's will away and make it your own." Helga's wand touched Salazar's forehead. "And yet, here I am. Subjecting the person I once loved most to this inhumane punishment, no matter how much he deserves it for all the harm he has caused. For all the harm he could do if he was allowed to roam free..."

Salazar's emerald eyes didn't waver. He allowed Helga to continue wasting her breath as he persisted in his attempts to break free from her suffocating oppression.

_If Helga has become the first witch in history to cast a silent Unforgivable Spell, then I shall become the first wizard to break free from it. I'll do it, just you watch, Hufflepuf! I will not be subjugated to you any longer! I'll be free again, and when I do, I'll kill you...just like I killed your meddling elves!_

"I know why you did it, Salazar." Helga continued, leaving Salazar's frenzied mind caught in a moment of bewilderment. "My poor elves were noble creatures, always willing to serve and make people happy. And the person they grew to care the most besides me, the one they wanted to always please whenever he was nearby was none other than Master Salazar, the lover of their beloved Lady Helga."

Memories flashed in front of Salazar. He closed his eyes, wishing for those images to go away and never return.

Regret burned deep inside him. Salazar did not mourn the death of the elves. He had felt nothing as each one of them perished at his hands, no matter how much they begged for mercy or cried in disbelief of their reality.

The deaths of those creatures meant nothing to him, not even if Salazar had eventually grown to appreciate them as something more than useless beings which only purpose in life was to follow his every command.

At the end of the day, they still were lowly, inferior creatures. Just like their lives, their deaths had neither meaning nor worth.

If Salazar regretted exterminating them, it was only because it had also meant the unrepairable fracture of his relationship with Helga.

Had he left Hogwarts without incident, Salazar knew Helga would still have chased after him. She would have found him, like she always did, no matter how far he travelled or how hard he tried to remain hidden. She would have tried to convince him to go back to Hogwarts, even after all the damage his prolonged conflict with Godric had caused.

Helga would have forgiven him for it, and Salazar would have loved her all the more for it.

But how could that ever come to be after what he had done to her? Salazar had not only killed her elves mercilessly, he had also tried to kill her.

And Helga had done the same.

_It's all over._

Salazar opened his eyes. His fingers twitched, but Helga didn't notice.

_There's no going back for us, Hufflepuff. We are free of each other at last. It is as soothing as it tragic, is it not?_

"It was because they wished to please so much that my elves became overbearing, intruding even. " Helga put her wand on Salazar's throat. "Maybe, just maybe...in their innocent curiosity and constant meddling, they witnessed something they shouldn't. Was it one of your many horrendous secrets, I wonder? Like a hidden chamber, perhaps? A Chamber of Secrets?"

Salazar's blood froze, but a boiling anger returned some color to his pale face.

"Did you really think I didn't know about it, Slytherin?" Helga said softly. "I always did, and yet, I feigned ignorance. All this time, I acted as if I knew nothing about your petty schemes because I though you'd see reason one day. I wanted to believe that your anger would dissapear and that you would revert back to the man you were, to the man I loved, but now I see I was a fool. You are beyond saving, Salazar...I see that now."

Another memory tried to resurface, one of the many nights he and Helga had spent together, even during the chaotic period where dozens of students had died while defending and supporting Salazar's ideals that muggle-borns did not belong in Hogwarts.

He also remembered Godric and the many times he had asked for a truce for the sake of the school, but Salazar Slytherin was not a man prone to surrender, no matter the cost.

Salazar killed those visions before they could distract him. At the same time, his lower body began to regain feeling.

"So you see, I know very well why you killed them, Salazar." Helga continued. "I know you so well. You wanted to make sure you left no witnesses behind of your last crime against Hogwarts before you departed forever. It was all for nothing, for I already knew everything about it. Meaningless...all your actions were meaningless. That's what my question really meant, Slytherin. Why did you do all this? What were you trying to achieve? Was it worth causing so much death and destruction? "

Helga whimpered.

Salazar felt one warm tear infiltrating his eye from above. He cried it out as a reflex.

It was the only tear either shed.

"In the end, your answer does not matter." Helga moved her wand all the way to Salazar's forehead. "You are not going anywhere, Salazar. You are too much of a threat for muggles and wizards alike. I don't want to imagine of what you would be capable if..." She sighed heavily. "You'll stay with me forever, even if I must cast _Imperio_ on you until the day either of us die. This is your punishment for your selfish arrogance...and my sentence for my idle stupidity."

"How sentimental."

Salazar's hand grasped Helga's wrist like a claw. His nails pierced her damaged skin and made her bone creak like rusted metal.

Helga gasped in surprise and pain, but she made little effort to break free. Salazar smiled mockingly at her shocked expression.

The pathetic look in her eyes was everything Salazar needed to know that Helga wouldn't try to hurt him again. Unlike him, Helga's power was always hindered by her tendency for mercy and pity, especially when he was the receptor of her feelings.

Salazar's smile widened.

Helga may have defeated him in duel, but Salazar had still come out victorious from their encounter.

_I have power over you just as much as you have power over me, Hufflepuff. Alas, I've put that behind me. What a shame that you will be subjugated to it forever._

"You speak such threatening words, but I know there's no real intent behind them, Hufflepuff. Your tender heart cannot fathom the strength necessary to carry out true acts of hatred other than impulsive outbursts of anger. Your fury burns strong but dies out quickly...just like your spells and curses."

Salazar grasped Helga's wrist with both his hands and dragged it down to his heart. Helga watched in horror as Salazar continued to smile. His face was deformed by a crazed conviction that made Helga wonder how that man could possibly be the same person she had once loved.

"You want to know why I did everything you accuse me of?" Salazar said with satisfaction and pride. "Because I believed I was right. I know I am right, Helga. You, Godric, Rowena and all those ignorant fools that spread ridiculous ideas of tolerance and acceptance towards muggles and their disgusting mudblood kin...all of you are nothing but blind idiots, traitors of your kind who have chosen to forget our history and our past!

"You forgive muggles so easily, as if all they had done to us, all the wizards and witches they have killed, raped and exterminated for centuries was an innocent mistake, something that should be forgiven without previous thinking! What future do you plan to build for ourselves following this childish philosophy? A society born from this way of thinking will be a rootless one unable to remember the rightful place wizards and witches deserve, the place nature intended for us when it granted us our powers! I won't accept this! All the magic blood spilled by the hand of those lowly muggles must have a meaning! And if to preserve it I must spill the blood of millions of muggles, mudbloods and of anyone that dares to stand in my way, so be it."

Salazar laughed. His voice echoed across the forest.

"And if I can't do it, then my successor will." Salazar said. "The child of my unborn child...the child that will one day open the Chamber of Secrets, they shall continue my legacy and bring order to this forsaken world once more. Nothing else matters to me anymore, Helga, and I regret nothing." Salazar pressed Helga's wand deeper on his chest. The_ Imperio _curse had no longer power over him. "So I ask you, now that you know this, what will you do, Hufflepuff? Will you control me forever as you said? Will you kill me right here and bury my body in an unmarked grave? Or will you let me live? My fate is in your hands, as it has always been, my love."

_But never again will._

Salazar waited for an answer.

Helga's hand shook under his.

They stood that way for a long while.

Only the setting sun, the cloudless sky and a couple of stars were witnesses of what happend next.


	4. A cobra's parting gift

_**Hey everyone! I'm really sorry for the long wait. I had to rethink and rewrite this chapter quite a few times, and after much consideration, I decided to split the ending into three parts. It was originally going to be just one more chapter, but I thought that came as way too long and overcrowded, hence why I chose to split it. So... rather than 4 chapters as I had planned, this fic will be 6 chapters long. Don't worry, I promise the next two parts won't take as long as this one did.**_

**_With that said, thank you so much for reading and to everyone who has faved/followed! I hope you like the chapter!_**

* * *

"You're not yourself today, Salazar."

The cobra's piercing yellow eyes were fixed on his. The coldness of its moist skin had his forearm warped in an increasingly forceful embrace.

Salazar stared back at the animal. The trapped pulse beating eagerly on his wrist was turning painful. Soon, his hand became heavy with numbness; yet, he didn't allow any trace of discomfort to show on his face.

When dealing with snakes, the slightest display of weakness was the prelude of a certain death.

"Something's changed within you. It's made you less than you were." The cobra's tongue danced along with its words. Its mouth became wide open, exposing a couple of sharp fangs coated with venom. "You were a fool to seek me in this state."

"I know not what you speak of." Salazar smiled. He raised his free hand and caressed the cobra's body, tracing his index finger along the animal's skin as if it was a dog eager for its master's attention.

The cobra hissed at his condescending touch and jerked its head forward when Salazar's finger passed insultingly close to its mouth.

Salazar didn't flinch at the feint, and simply watched as golden drops of venom rained down on his skin and the damp grass underneath them.

"My heart is at peace. I've merely come here to see my dear friend one last time." Salazar's voice rang smooth as he stroked the cobra's head. "As powerful as we both are, neither of us can defeat time. Our days are counted, and I merely wanted to make sure to see you again before you passed, or I did."

"A noble sentiment. One all snakes can understand and respect." The cobra closed its mouth and tightened its grasp on Salazar's arm. "But we do not tolerate lies and weakness, and right now, your heart is festering with both, Slytherin."

A soft laugh hatched in Salazar's chest. It was not the first time his own legilimency paled in comparison to a snake's natural intuition, but he had never felt so vulnerably exposed before. No matter how venomous, prideful or savage, no snake had ever managed to impose itself against Salazar's power and strength of will.

His relationship with his fellow wizards and witches and even his own family had been no different. Most of the time, there had been fear; others, respect and admiration, and in the rarest occasions, even love, but never submission, not on his end.

For once in his life, his fate was at the mercy of someone else.

_Helga._

The name sprouted from his mind and threatened to break his bravado.

How long had it been since he had thought of her since their last awry encounter?

Perhaps years, or maybe he had never stopped thinking about her at all.

It was an answer he couldn't define.

"I sense great doubt in you."

The cobra intruded his thoughts and forced him back to reality, away from the memories of the carefree days when his ambitions and hopes were yet to be soured.

"You're right." Salazar said before a bitter laugh escaped his lips. The burden of his broken pride was nothing compared to the comforting release of the revealed truth he had tried to bury inside him.

_I lie too well, especially to myself. And yet, a snake cannot be deceived, even less a cobra._

"This change in you is shameful. To think I once respected you as much as your fellow humans do. Unforgivable. You are no longer worthy of mine or any snake's respect." The cobra extended its head closer to Salazar's neck.

Salazar could feel the burning touch of its fangs resting right above his pulsating artery.

"Still," the cobra whispered, "I'd be lying if I said I'm not intrigued about what could reduce a man like you to this sorry predicament. What happened to you, Slytherin? As evidence of our fading friendship, you shall answer, and I shall listen. "

"I'll answer, but not out of duty to you and our broken bond." Salazar replied. "I'll do it simply because I wish to do so."

_Because I need to. Because I would never dare to confess this to someone else without killing them afterwards. You are as old as you are irrelevant, my friend; that's what makes you the perfect vessel of my confession._

"Such arrogance." The cobra's tongue caressed his skin. "It would cost you your life if it wasn't already lost to me thanks to your weakness. Please, omit the pretenses and answer me at once, before I lose my patience and strike you down. It wouldn't take long, just a single bite for my venom to corrupt all the blood in your body."

"Do it then. I know I've got no escape." Salazar said, looking up to the sky painted red with the setting sun. "Whether I answer or not, you will kill me."

"Yes." The sudden mellowing in the cobra's voice took Salazar aback, but it soon returned to its dominant tone. "It's only natural that I do. We cobras do not allow a weakened prey to escape. To do so would be to act against our instinct. You know this Salazar, and yet you came to me. You've got no one to blame but yourself."

Salazar's eyes widened at the last statement. The cobra's words stung more than its venom did as it burned his skin.

"I cannot allow you to escape death, but I am granting you the chance to confess whatever burden is devouring your soul. It's up to you whether you accept this last generosity of mine or refuse it. So what will it be, Salazar Slytherin?"

Salazar remained quiet for a moment. His wandering thoughts returned to Helga. It was only for a fleeting second, but it was more than enough for him to muster the courage he needed to speak.

"It's not a matter of something that happened to me." The words flowed limply from his throat. Each was a blow to his crumbling pride. "It's a matter of what I've done."

The cobra raised its head and rested it against Salazar's forehead. The eyespots formed by the scaly pattern on each side of its hood stared deeply into Salazar's gaze.

"Isn't this surprising?" The cobra said with its own version of a mocking scoff. "Salazar Slytherin, the master of dark magic, the harbinger of his so-called new age of magic superiority and blood purity, is consumed by regret of all the atrocities he has comitted against muggles—"

"No. Regret has indeed tarnished me, but it's not because what I've done to muggles and their mudblood kin."

"Are you sure about that, Salazar?" The cobra inquired, the sides of its hoods further expanding like a pair of flesh wings. "Are you?"

To his own shock, Salazar's tongue became stale.

_Curse you._

The hatred he intended for himself found a better vessel in the discord-sowing cobra.

"I am." He said with a conviction so strong that the cobra retreated slightly away from him. He smiled at his small victory, but it didn't take long for him to realize how hollow it really was.

There was no pride in managing to trick a cobra when he had failed to convince himself.

_I hate you, but you were right. If these feelings are truly blooming inside me, then it's true. I'm not myself anymore_. _ How can I be the man I was now that I know the truth of what's to come?_

"Very well." The cobra said, its grip on Salazar loosening as token of its respect for Salazar's display of confidence. "Tell me then, what have you done that troubles you so? Who have you wronged?"

"My family, my followers... my people. I've failed them." Salazar felt a lump forming in his throat. He swallowed it before the tears it contained could find a way to his eyes. "I've failed everyone."

"How so? Are you not loved and admired by them all? Have you not guided them whenever they were lost? Did you not spend all your life fighting so theirs could be better?"

It was impossible for Salazar to define whether the animal intended to comfort him or mock him. One could never be completely sure with snakes. He had spoken to them all their life, and still their natural ambiguity was something he had never fully understood.

"All is true." Salazar answered, his heart clenching inside his chest.

"Then, why?" The cobra insisted, its fangs overflowing with venom. "Why do you—"

"Because I was weak and full of doubts." Salazar couldn't keep a tear from escaping his left eye. "And in my weakness, I sought an answer. Not for the present, but for the future."

"Humans. Always so worried about the legacy of your actions and the fate of your blood. Yet, it is not surprising coming from you. You always were, after all, the man most obsessed with this kind of nonsense, Slytherin."

"I was. I am." Salazar said with contained anger. "I'm not ashamed of it. If I care about the legacy of my actions, it's because I want them to be meaningful for the world. If I care about the fate of my blood, it's because all I've ever done was for their sake. All I ever wanted was for them to grow strong and to keep prospering even after I'm gone. I wanted them—"

Salazar bit his tongue. He did not dare to finish, too aware of how childish and naive his wish would sound if spoken out loud.

The cobra waited for him to complete the thought. Its curious gaze turned into a glare once it realized Salazar would say no more.

"Alas, whatever you wished for them, it is not bound to happen. You are sure of it... Oh Slytherin, have you really fallen so low that now you seek comfort in the prophecies of centaurs? Are you so desperate that you went to those star-gazing fools in search for an answer?"

Salazar winced. The cobra laughed at his reaction.

"Please, as if you would ever seek the help of your own kind. The great and ruthless Salazar Slytherin cannot allow his fellow wizards and witches to see the man behind the reputation. If anyone ever did, you'd have no choice but the kill them afterwards... just like you did to those lowly centaurs after they revealed to you your family's wretched fate."

Salazar said nothing, but his eyes said more than words would have done.

"And you plan to do the same with me once your self-pitying confession is over, do you not? After all, what worth is a centaur's or a cobra's life to the powerful Salazar Slytherin?"

The cobra's eyes didn't flee from Salazar's insolence, and both man and snake remained trapped in a visual struggle.

"You may think of yourself as cunning, Slytherin, but you've always been awfully predictable to us snakes, cobras above all. Humans are all the same. Once, I thought you were different, but I thought wrong."

The cobra moved swiftly, with an elegance that didn't match the nature of the act.

The bite came without further warning.

As Salazar had expected, the cobra aimed to his neck.

Salazar gasped as the burning flush of venom mixed with his blood and spread to his body, transforming it into what felt like thick streams of lava.

"A simple victory. Too simple... Slytherin, did I best you, or did I simply do as you desired?" The cobra said as soon as its fangs departed from Salazar's flesh. His coagulated blood coated them like a crimson lacquer. "Perhaps it doesn't matter now. It's done. You spoke to your heart's content and I listened, but now it's over. There's nothing left to say or do for either of us."

The cobra freed Salazar's arm and nimbly slid down to the grass. Despite the venom corroding his body, Salazar retained his kneeling posture.

"Not even in death will you allow yourself to fall." The cobra said as it admired him as if he was the statue of an idol."Farewell, Salazar Slytherin. A shame your death failed to be as glorious as your life."

The cobra slithered away into the same forest it had come from when Salazar had arrived to their meeting. He followed its trail until it disappeared from his sight.

His only witness was gone, but even so, Salazar refused to collapse on the ground.

His pride, the only constant companion of his life, became also his only pillar of strength. Slowly, Salazar raised a trembling hand and put it over the blistering scars the cobra had left behind on his neck.

He smiled.

_Indeed. This is what I desired. Now that I know what will happen, I wish for nothing else._

The image of the cursed child forever trapped between life and death returned to him, so fresh and vivid that for a moment, Salazar swore he could hear his whimpers.

His smile shattered. Tears filled Salazar's eyes as the creature's laments echoed louder in his ears.

"Stop." Salazar muttered in anger. "Stop crying."

The creature disobeyed him and started to wail, the same way children do when they seek their mother's comfort.

"Stop it. Don't cry!" Salazar howled as his tears came streaming down his cheeks. "Voldemort!"

His free hand rested violently over the one covering his wound.

Salazar fell, the venom in his body finally overpowering his pride.

"Mother..."

His fading scream was followed by the merciless silence of the nature that surrounded him.

_My family, this is not what I desired for any of you. _

Shaking beyond his control, one of his hands found its way to the pocket of his robe and desperately searched inside.

_All that I ever wanted was for you to be—_

His thoughts became a frenzied collage of images and words he couldn't weave together. Before he lost himself in the painful euphoria of the cobra's venom, Salazar saw her.

For a blissful moment that lasted little more than nothing, the wailing creature from the distant future was replaced by the woman of the past.

The woman that had loved him and he had loved back in return.

_Helga._

The name remained trapped in his lips; his tongue paralyzed by the foreign toxin.

His hand emerged from his pocket with a tiny flask.

_I want to see you._

Salazar thought as he handed his fate to the elixir.

_Right now, that's my only desire._


End file.
